Scarlet Justice: Full Blossom – ep. 55
"Remedies"
"Yuno made sure to bother me about breakfast today. She said the extra money she has on hand has been burning holes in her pockets, heh."
This morning, I'm heading over to the central hospital as promised. Tsunade has cleared out a portion of her schedule to give me a proper checkup, and to make sure nothing else is wrong after my recent mission.
"Oi, there you two are. Shizune!"
A mess of paperwork decorates Tsunade's desk as we reach her office. And the usual bottles of alcohol are neatly gathered to one side, ready to be dropped into a bin later. Her morning coffee is still hot, with steam wafting up from it.
"Yes, milady. Oh, Lili! Welcome home," Shizune says as she enters.
"Thank you. I'm happy to be home again." She gives me a hug before returning her attention to Tsunade.
"Look after the sprout here for me, I'm gonna be a while with Lili."
Shizune nods. "Understood. I'll run a few simple tests for us today, Fio."
"Got it. Lili, I'll be waiting for you in the lobby! I want to see what they've got stocked in the fancy new soda machine down there."
"Please don't drink too much of those beverages," Shizune says.
"I remembered what you told me earlier, stay away from stuff that you can't pronounce."
"That's right."
"It's a good thing my grades were okay in school, or else I'd die of thirst!" Fio laughs as Shizune shakes her head. They leave together while Tsunade ushers me into the room adjacent to this one, and closes the door behind her.
"Have a seat on the bed there, Lili."
I do as she asks, and she sets all of the sterile equipment she needs on a tray before wheeling it closer to me.
"Before we start anything...here." She gives me a hug and pats my head gently. "You look just a bit out of it. Hope you're doing okay."
"I went through a bit of an ordeal, just before I came back to the village. But of course I have the best group of girlfriends in the world, so they've been looking after me and worrying for me before my feet even passed the front gate," I say to her. "I'm much better than I was before."
"Is it possible you could tell me what happened? At least a little bit, so I can picture it?"
"It was something that brought back memories of my father. I had to deal with them all over again...for the sake of one of my friends from another village, Aiko."
"The girl you teamed up with from the Sand, eh. Her father, then?"
"Yes."
"You don't have to say anything else, in that case." She rubs my head. "I know you did the right thing, and I'm glad you at least feel a bit better. Unfortunately, all I can do is take care of the physical ailments, if there are any."
"You say that, but...comforting me like this means a lot, too. Thank you, Tsunade."
"Least I could do for you," she says with a smile. "Alright, I'll do the simple checks while we wait for a certain expert to come and draw the samples for all the other stuff I'll need."
I nod and open my mouth at her urging, so that she can use the wooden tongue depressor. After that is blood pressure, heartbeat, breathing, and so on.
"You always want to do checks after coming back from the more exotic places. Some filthy fucks out there, I swear..."
"A bit rude, no? Or are we speaking from certain experiences?" I ask as she checks my ears.
"Last time I ended up in some backwoods village where Sound Country used to be. They're calling it Rice again, now?"
"Yes."
"How's your mom doing with business?"
"Just fine. Mama has been investing far more in operations involving Fire Country lately, and she's been branching off into other fields as well. Ane-ue's developments have really inspired her on that front."
"Good for her. Now what was I...oh yeah. Yeah, we got fuckin' tapeworms, me and Shizune both."
"Rather unpleasant."
"Understatement. So that's why I'm checking up on you like this, or at least one of the reasons. The old man would make me do it either way. Says he wants to see you when you feel better, Hinata reported to him and everything."
"Yes, of course she would. I appreciate everything she does."
"Figured you would. I gotta figure out what weird magic spell you used on the Hyuuga, Hinata aside of course, because they're not nearly the fuckheads that they used to be. Seriously, even Hiashi is coming off minty fresh recently. I never thought I would see the day."
"There wasn't anything special that I did," I say. "Just my best, as always."
"Ha. As if your worst isn't better than most anyone's career day." A few knocks on the door interrupt us. "Ah, there's your surprise."
"Surprise?" I ask.
"Yep. Here you go, Lili. I'll be in my office while you two catch up."
"I couldn't pass up an opportunity to see my favourite troublemaker again," a familiar voice calls to me.
Walking through the door is woman in a crisp white nurse's outfit, with her silver hair tied into a long braid. She smiles and looks me over with her blue eyes.
"Ruki?"
"That's me. Long time no see, Miss Kobayashi."
"It has been a while..." I get to my feet and we hug each other tightly. I was wondering when I would get a chance to talk to her again...I suppose Tsunade was considering our relationship when she got the call from Fio last night.
"Everything okay? I heard you went through a bit of scare last week."
"Just some emotional turmoil is all. I'm fine, everyone is looking after me. And I won't be working too hard for the next week or two."
"Hopefully it's more like three or four. I know how you like to run yourself into the ground whenever you get the chance."
"I do not."
"You do your best to."
"Speaking of that, how are things with your husband?" I ask. Ruki settles me back onto the bed and goes to gather her equipment.
"Kakashi is just fine, and I'm making sure of it with that new Sharingan or whatever it's called these days. He might find my doting annoying, but I don't care. He's not going blind if I can help it."
"You might not be able to."
"Okay, but I don't want to hear that."
"You wouldn't."
Ruki puts a set of sealed capsules on the tray, along with other small containers. She finds a strand of my hair and pulls at it, making it fall into her palm. She then seals it in a small bag before picking up a nail clipper next.
"Everything is okay with us, really. We've been talking about starting a family, and agreed that we should hold off until this situation with Obito is resolved. Otherwise, we're both pretty eager on that subject."
"Hm."
"Nothing interesting to say?" she asks.
"No. I figure he's making you blush enough for the both of us."
"There we go," she says with a nod. "I'm starting to wonder if you're just that wild, or I'm subconsciously yearning to get teased by you," she says as she takes a needle out of its casing. One of the tubes is attached to it, and then she easily finds the vein in my right arm to draw blood from.
"It might be both, you know."
"That's an unfortunate possibility, too." One tube fills, and she smoothly replaces it with another. "You've got the village buzzing for more than a few reasons. This brand new and improved body of yours is near the top, of course."
"Do I have another admirer?"
"Of course you do. In a platonic way."
"Of course."
"You do look great, honestly. I can tell that you've been working out in all the right ways and staying healthy. Normally, it would mean less potential injuries, but we both know that you like to live dangerously, in many ways. But it's kind of funny to think about, you know..."
"What is?"
"Back then, you were a charming little thing who knew what she wanted out of life. Now you're a bit bigger, and just a bit more demanding."
"Just a bit bigger, hm."
She smiles and takes a swab to my ear canal, then another to my nose, and puts one more on the inside of my mouth. They all go into their sealed tubes.
"I wonder what you were thinking when we first met," I say as she checks my arm again.
"I was thinking that I would make a patient of mine happy, at least for a little while. Some would say that it was too much, but it was as I said a long time ago now. I accepted you as a woman, someone who put her life on the line for our village and for the Hokage himself."
"Something between adults?"
"Mm-hm. People will clutch their pearls, so on, so forth. Not that they would mind if you were a boy."
"They wouldn't. But that's how things go sometimes, and we shouldn't spend our time being too upset about them. The flow of time will bring change on its own, surely," I say. "I appreciate how you looked after me that time, Ruki."
"I know. I'm really happy I could tend to you back then. It would have been more than worth it, even if we didn't become friends afterwards. But I'm really glad we did." Ruki neatly labels each of the tubes and containers with the appropriate dates and codes.
"I am as well. And Kakashi would say the same."
"Yep. Speaking of him again...he suggested that we ask you to help look after our first child once they were born."
"Again, eh. At this rate, I'll be godmother to half the children in this village."
"It'll be pretty much the same when you get the big hat, right?"
"When you put it that way...and that's with Magnolia House aside. We've been making good progress on that, in fact. Things should be ready by maybe the third or fourth quarter of this year, provided there aren't any major happenings."
"That's good! I know Lady Tsunade wouldn't want to let me go easily, but I think it could be nice looking after the kids over there as a regular job." Ruki flutters her lashes at me. "Maybe my friendship with the boss could earn me a few extra perks?"
"You would get the full benefits of nepotism if you decide to come aboard," I say with a wink.
"Then it's settled. I'll leave the paperwork to you when the time comes. We're all done here, so I'll just get these samples down to the lab. Nothing seems off immediately, so I think in the next two or three days you'll get a good report."
"Thank you for that, Ruki."
"Not a problem. Let's go and see our favourite doctor."
Ruki picks up the tray, and I open the door for her. We walk to Tsunade's desk, where she takes the tray out of Ruki's hands and sets it down while on the phone.
"Yeah, I mean...what else do you want me to do? Do you have the rest of the leg secured? Okay...so then stop pissing yourself, I'll be down in a few minutes. Yes, we can afford to wait. Like I said, I'll be right down. Just keep the poor sap stable." She hangs up and shakes her head. "Fuck's sake, these people...right. Lili, you and Miss Cinnamon Roll over here can have a day together, unless you're super busy. I'll foist the tubes on someone while I make my way down to surgery."
"You're sure?" Ruki asks.
"Yeah, you weren't doing too much today anyways, I'll get one of those other lazy slobs to cover. Not right that you're busting your ass for their sake, so go on. Rest of the day will be paid, I'll make sure of it."
"Thank you very much, Lady Tsunade."
"Nothing to it. You girls have fun." She pats my head before taking the tray and leaving.
"Were you about to do anything?" she asks me.
"Fio was going to take me to lunch with Yuno. She was apparently eager to spend some money today, so I don't think she would mind an extra guest. If anything, it's easily covered on my end."
"Alright, sounds like a plan. I'll get changed and meet you out front."
"Good."
I head down to the lobby, where Fio is scrutinizing a soda can.
"Hm. Can I pronounce this...?"
"Hello, love."
"Oh, hey Lili. How'd your check up go?"
"Nothing immediately wrong from what our Auntie could see, and the samples should be processed relatively quickly, with little expected issue."
"Awesome."
"I did get an extra surprise, in addition. Ruki and I have missed each other for a while, so I finally got to see her today and have a little chat. She looks as lovely and radiant as ever."
"No kidding!"
"And she's free for the day, coincidentally. Do you think Yuno would mind if we added one more to our group?"
"She'd totally be cool with it. Let's bring Ruki along."
"We're going to meet outside, so let's wait there. What is it you were looking at earlier?"
"This word here, I don't remember seeing it too many places," Fio says. I take the can and look at it before handing it back.
"Ribofurabin," I sound out."Ah, that's riboflavin. It's a vitamin, specifically vitamin B2. It assists in the formation of enzymes that help with cell respiration, metabolism, and so on. Deficiencies are relatively rare in this day and age. When it comes to food, as an additive it usually is a yellow colouring. Nothing to worry about."
"Nice. Thanks, Lili." Fio pops open the can and starts to drink as we head outside. We only have to wait a few minutes before Ruki steps out, wearing a yellow blouse and dark pants. She makes sure her handbag is sitting properly on her shoulder before waving to us.
"All ready over here."
"Good. Fio, lead the way for us," I say.
"Yep."
It's not too far a walk to our destination. Yuno is easily spotted, with her green jacket and striped socks. She's speaking to someone with dyed orange hair beneath an old fashioned military cap, probably from one of those surplus stores. They're also wearing a black jacket and a long skirt, with the usual sandals for shinobi on their feet.
"Oh, they're here! Hey, girls~!"
"Happy morning, Yuno! We've got a plus one with us!" Fio says.
"And I'd know that pretty face anywhere. Didn't think you'd get time off so soon," Yuno says to Ruki. They kiss each other on the cheeks in greeting.
"Happened to be my lucky day, but they tend to be with Lili around."
"Don't I know it. And speaking of our favourite gal, is everything okay? Fio told me that you were feeling a bit down and everything..."
"Everything should be better now. I'm taking some time off to recover before I do anything else."
Yuno nods and hugs me tightly. "Good. I couldn't stand it if anything bad happened to you. Hopefully your spirits are lifted some more after this."
"I appreciate this, Yuno."
"Before I forget my manners, I should introduce you and Fio to my friend here before she wanders off. She's a bit shy."
I finally get a good look at the woman with orange hair. Her light brown eyes are sharp, in contrast with the soft looking face that she has. She's also the tallest out of all of us, probably taller than some of the men I know as well. 180 cm at least...
"This is Suika, she's been looking out for me whenever she could. She started her transition before I did, and helped me with a lot of stuff that I was having trouble with. I don't think that I would have made it this far if not for her!"
"That's...probably too much," Suika says quietly. Her voice is clear and soft.
"It's totally not!"
"If that's all, then...I should go. Enjoy your breakfast and everything. I'll see you later."
"Yep yep! Be safe!" Yuno gives Suika a hug, and they smile at each other before she starts to pass by me.
"You're...Lilith Kobayashi, then."
"Yes, I am. It's a pleasure meeting you." She keeps her head turned away from me, and nods.
"Thank you for...saving Yuno. And for loving her. It means...everything."
She adjusts her hat before walking away quietly. A strange and sincere woman.
"She's always been like that. Never liked any sort of spotlight," Yuno says. "But she's pretty tough, and always protected me from bullies when she could spot them. It was like that way before I started changing, but we connected while I was still deciding on what to do. I didn't even know she was like me at all! Did you see how pretty she is?"
"Definitely gorgeous," I say. "Is she with an organization by chance?"
"Nah, but she has friends in those types of outfits all over. Sometimes she does mediation between rival groups, when she has time off."
"And she comes to the hospital with Yuno whenever we do our checkups," Ruki says. Their friendship started after Yuno got herself settled into the Nagano home, and Ruki has been looking after Yuno's health and medicine for the past few years. "They usually do everything at the same time and wait for each other."
"I had to ask Mom to convince Aniki not to come around," Yuno says, sighing. "He's a little too high strung when it comes to these things, believe it or not."
"Quite doting, yes. And he's been well lately?" I ask.
"Doing great. He's been going on plenty of surveillance missions lately. Well, let's get ourselves inside and eat until we're satisfied. Nothing more fitting for a group of ladies than some breakfast and gossip, hehe. And of course, I'll be taking care of things for everyone. No objections from you, Miss Kobayashi," she says with a wag of her finger.
I nod. "For today, at least."
"Good enough. Onward!"
Breakfast is delicious, and the gossip is as juicy as ever. I'm definitely feeling better.
"Yeah, so. I gave her pretty simple instruction, which was to keep her fat mouth shut. Of course she couldn't even do that," Yuno says with a dramatic wave of her hand. "And that ended up getting her into all kinds of trouble that I didn't even know about."
"Like what?" Fio asks.
"Like the suits discovering that she didn't actually have the clearance to handle those materials. Turns out she was blowing one of the guys from human resources under the table."
"Oh, she was not," Ruki says with a frown.
"She really was, and it wasn't just the one guy. But whatever, lab's out five hundred thousand and she's probably getting demoted for a few months at the least. Lucky if it's only that much. Like, we can't make those kinds of minerals here, so we have to import them, and let me tell you...lab head doesn't even want to look at the budget sheets right now."
"Dang." Fio drinks some of her tea.
"Anyways, Lili...I've been dying to ask you something," Yuno says.
"What did we want to know?"
"Well, you know that Tomo and Iruka have been working together, so...are they like..."
"Nothing like that. They're good friends and colleagues by now, but nothing more than that. I don't really see it, either. But I have been wrong before, so we'll have to keep an eye out."
"Alright. Stuff has been going around a bit, so I thought I'd ask. I like the new look she has, it's cute. Do you think you're gonna have her with us on the big project?"
"I've moved her in another direction. She'll be handling the education component that's needed for us to take advantage of your hard work," I say to Yuno. "Of course, nothing is final just yet, but we're working on that slowly."
"Sounds good!"
"Makes me wonder who would be good for Iruka," Ruki muses. "Almost surprised that he doesn't have someone already, but he does put himself into his work."
"Maybe a little too much," Fio says. "Nothing wrong with being single, though."
"I thought you would have stepped in by now," Yuno says to me.
"Perhaps. But it's his choice to make in the end. Though if I do find someone who looks like they would be a good fit, I'll send them his way before he can object, hmhm."
"I think that works," Ruki says with a nod. "Least we could do is take care of our boys."
"Reliable, but hopeless without us," Fio says.
I nod in agreement. "That's about right."
"So like there's a whole...thing going on recently, in the village. Real hush hush stuff, and I only really know because it's affecting my security clearances now," Yuno says.
"Recently we were dealing with a bit of disruption from the conflict between Hyuuga and Danzo, which most people are aware of by now. There was a small bit of meddling on our parts, if you needed to know," I say to her.
"Ohh. Didn't know it was getting that serious."
"What does that have to do with your clearances?" Fio asks. "Aren't you doing R&D stuff?"
"They mentioned a few things about restructuring, which is always code for some kind of high level nonsense."
"Foundation members in the trees," I say before eating one of the small pastries left.
"Lady Tsunade was going on about the same thing, having to do reassignments and more hiring in the last month or two," Ruki says. "She doesn't exactly mind it since it means she can get some of the weirdos out of her hair, but it did put her in a bad mood for about a week."
"Alcohol runs," Fio says. "Luckily her regular spots don't give me any grief since they know what's up, so I can hop in and out whenever she needs something."
Ruki shakes her head. "How she still has a working liver, I'll never know. Maybe I don't want to know. It's been said that there are some things better left to the unknown, beyond mortal comprehension."
"I mean, she's a super good doctor, right? The best in the world," Yuno says. "Couldn't that explain it?"
"There are limits to what medical science can explain," I reply. "And Auntie Tsuna there exceeds such limits routinely. I caught that woman drinking sherry at six in the morning once."
"Point made."
"Most people would have suffered a few interventions by now, but between the absurd amount of skill she has and the old man being a kitten whenever her behaviour comes up, there are a different set of standards in play. All worth it if we can export even a bit of the innovation she has to the rest of the continent."
"Is that the goal with everything you're working on?" Ruki asks.
"More or less. We want to make sure it works here first before making any adjustments. It's just the same as when organized shinobi systems formed in other regions. Each of them developed based on the population and their tendencies, despite being made in fear of the alliance between Senju and Uchiha long ago. Considering all of the struggle before, it's remarkable that we have the current level of stability. I suppose things can only go up from here. I hope so, at least."
"Me too. It would be really nice to have a world where we didn't have to fight over everything and risk so much death. I know that there will always be a need for people who fight, but it shouldn't be everyone. Especially not kids. But then, I think there's still room for things that carry the spirit of shinobi life in the future. It's complicated, isn't it?"
"It can be a little bit," I say. "My belief is that shinobi will never cease to exist, especially since there's a world beyond this one we live in, that yearns for justice. Chakra is a gift from the heavens, and thus should be used to further the peace and goodwill that living beings should have with one another. It is the age of shinobi, and of warfare that causes them to be the false arbiters of life and death, that will cease to be one day."
"Big claim," Yuno says. "But I'm down for moves like that."
"Hell yeah. No brakes on this train," Fio says with a smile. "World ain't gonna change itself, so it's up to us girls."
"As it always is. Fortunately, we have some handsome men supporting us all the way," Ruki says.
"We certainly do, hmhm." I raise my cup. "To our beautiful boys, and the most beautiful revolution they will help us women bring to life."
"Aye!"
We tap our cups together in a toast.